The word: Paradoxical undressing

STRANDED on a freezing mountainside, wouldn't you welcome a rescuer's thermal blanket? Perhaps not. Your first instinct might be to throw it aside, and you might even have removed some of your own clothing before the rescue team got to you. Paradoxical undressing certainly lives up to its name.

Between 20 and 50 per cent of deaths from hypothermia involve paradoxical undressing of some kind. Mountain rescuers are trained to expect it, and the spell of severe cold weather in North America earlier this year produced a handful of well-publicised cases.

The cause is not known for sure; it is, after all, paradoxical. One explanation is that it is the result of the fine blood vessels near the surface of the skin reacting to cold by contracting. This limits heat loss and diverts blood to the vital organs.